China Ready for Nuclear War

More than anything else, advances in missile and submarine technology now allow the Chinese to threaten nations beyond regionally. Of course, everything is based on anecdotal data, estimates and speculation since the Chinese don't permit their mainstream media to regularly spew national secrets.

From IBD:

According to the 2007 edition of the Pentagon's annual report on Chinese military power, China is developing capabilities beyond regional war at a pace that both surprises and concerns U.S. officials. The capabilities include a new generation of ballistic missile submarines and a first-strike attack on our military satellites.

The report identifies five new Jin-class ballistic missile submarines that will each be outfitted with a dozen 5,000-mile-range JL-2 missiles. The Type 094 Jin class changes the strategic nuclear balance significantly and makes the need for a robust U.S. national missile defense even stronger.

China developed the first-generation Xia-class ballistic missile submarine in the 1980s. Only one was built. It rarely left port and had limited operational capability, mainly due to the short range of its missiles.

China has deployed a road-mobile, solid-propellant intercontinental range strategic missile, the DF-31, and is expected to field in the near future the extended range DF-31A, which can target most of the world, including the continental United States.

The JL-2, a submarine-launched version of the DF-31, is equipped with multiple warheads and penetration aids that could reach the U.S. mainland from Chinese coastal waters.

"If China puts these systems in place effectively on the scale reported in sea-basing and land-basing, it will now have a robust second-strike capability," said Lyle Goldstein, director of the China Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College. "What was gray before is now becoming clear. China can now effectively fight a nuclear war."

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but wasn't it the Clinton administration that allowed the Chinese to acquire state-of-the-art U.S. missile guidance technology?